GLOVERSVILLE - A former Gloversville Enlarged School District tutor was found guilty by a Fulton County grand jury Thursday of engaging in oral sex with a 13-year-old boy in March.
William D. Cross, 54, of 127 West St., was convicted of second-degree criminal sexual act and endangering the welfare of a child. He was tried before Judge Polly Hoye.
Cross, who authorities said was intoxicated the night he went to the boy's home, molested the boy while he was asleep in his bedroom, said Fulton County District Attorney Louise Sira. Another boy, a friend of the victim, was in the room at the time, Sira said.
Cross, who was not the boy's tutor at the time, was arrested by city police April 1.
"It's very rewarding for us as prosecutors to have a situation where the jurors believed the testimony of the teens," Sira said. "Teens are often difficult victims, especially given the circumstances, and the jury found their testimony credible."
Sira said the victim and the eyewitness testified before the jury. During the trial, the defendant's attorney claimed Cross was too intoxicated to walk upstairs and molest the 13-year-old.
Cross, said attorney Russell Martin, was extremely intoxicated when he arrived at the boy's home and could not have then molested the boy.
Sira said the defense was not credible.
"He was functioning at a bar," she said. "Apparently, the jurors rejected that defense. The boy testified, plus there was an eyewitness."
Cross ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Gloversville Enlarged School District Board of Education in 1992. He was suspended as a tutor following his arrest.
Kayleigh Karutis covers Gloversville news. She can be reached at gloversville@leaderherald.com.